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WWE PPV Flashbacks: Vengeance (7/27/03) - "The Heroic Comeback"

A month prior, the Raw brand had delivered its first official solo PPV. In July of 2003, it was Smackdown's turn to do the same. For the most part, Raw's Bad Blood had been a fairly unspectacular show, so Smackdown really needed to deliver a strong one on this night to show that the brand exclusive show concept could work. The expectations were reasonably high however, as even with the increased McMahon family drama on the show over the months heading into this time, Smackdown still had a reputation of being the stronger brand from a quality perspective. In the weeks leading into this show, the roster got one of its most valuable player's back as well, with Kurt Angle returning to action after his time off following dropping the WWE title at WrestleMania. On this night, Kurt looked to regain his WWE Championship as he faced off with Brock Lesnar and the Big Show in a triple threat main event. Also, the continuation of the battle for Smackdown continues as Mr McMahon steps into the ring with Zach Gowen, while Stephanie McMahon is up against her father's new mistress. We also have the return of an old championship to the brand and a whole lot more. With that, lets dive in to Smackdown's response to Bad Blood.

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Our opening video package focuses on the WWE Championship main event as well as the battle between Vince and Stephanie for control of the blue brand. Vince's crazy monologue is awesome. After the video, we go into the arena for the pyro and are welcomed by the Smackdown announce team of Michael Cole & Tazz to get things rolling.

WWE United States Championship:
Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero
We kick the night off by adding a new championship to the mix on Thursday nights. With the Intercontinental title brought back to Raw a few months prior, it became apparent that a championship was also necessary for the midcard to compete for on Smackdown. As a result, Stephanie McMahon announced that she was bringing back the United States Championship, which we last saw during the course of the Invasion, being the old secondary title in WCW. To crown the first champion under the WWE banner, Stephanie created an eight man tournament to be held in the weeks leading into this show. The eight men involved were Chris Benoit, Rhyno, Matt Hardy, Rikishi, Billy Gunn, John Cena, Ultimo Dragon and Eddie Guerrero. The two finalists would face off at Vengeance to crown the new champion. Chris Benoit would advance to the finals by defeating his tag partner Rhyno in the first round, followed by Matt Hardy in the semis. Meanwhile, Eddie picked up wins over Ultimo Dragon and Billy Gunn en route to the finals. Speaking of Eddie, he's no longer one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions (more on that later), and he's also had a change back to his old heel roots after turning on his old partner Tajiri upon losing the straps. He's still wildly popular though and the heel run would not last long. He debuts the Lowrider entrance on PPV here as well. Of course, Benoit is also over with the fans big time here and despite his slide back down to the midcard, a final like this immediately gives some prestige to the newly instituted title. The match is a great choice to kick off the show as with two of the best performers on the roster facing off, you know you're in for a treat, especially with all the chemistry they had developed working together by this point. The match starts out at a slow pace with the two veterans feeling each other out and going back and forth until Benoit starts going to work on Latino Heat's shoulder. The action continues though as Eddie fights back and both men trade offence as the pace quickens. Benoit attempts to trap Eddie in the crossface, but can't get it completely locked in. Eddie comes back and takes the ref down when he spears Benoit. That allows Eddie to resort to cheating, nailing Benoit with the title belt, but he's unable to win on the subsequent Frog Splash with the ref incapacitated. By the time he recovers to count, Benoit kicks out at two and the action continues with Eddie trying to bend the rules to his advantage as things go on. In the end however, Benoit battles through and gets Eddie in the crossface. With the ref still out of it, Benoit releases the hold to try to wake him up, which brings Rhyno out to the ring. He teases goring Eddie, but instead hits Benoit, turning heel out of jealousy for his loss in the tournament to his partner. Eddie capitalises with a Frog Splash and scores the victory at a very good 22:13 to open the show and become the new WWE United States Champion. Great stuff that blew the Raw PPV away from the outset. We got a great match between two guys who knew how to put on a strong showing. Benoit takes another loss but neither guy would have been hurt here. I liked the finish as it put Eddie over as a guy that would capitalise on any opportunity to win which was central to his character. The Rhyno turn also gave Benoit something to do as he continues to turn the wheels throughout the remainder of the year.Grade: ****

Backstage Mr McMahon confronts Stephanie. He mentions Kane's recent attack on Linda McMahon on Raw this past week (more on that next time) and gives her a bouquet of flowers, before revealing an even larger one that he is going to give to Sable. Vince then promised he would confront Kane on Raw the following night. From there we get a video package for the next match.

Billy Gunn w/Torrie Wilson vs Jamie Noble
Our next contest comes about with Jamie Noble making unwanted advances on Torrie in recent weeks, despite his relationship with Nidia. Meanwhile Torrie had commenced a relationship with the returning Billy Gunn. Gunn defeated Noble on an episode of Smackdown, and would continue his winning ways the following week in a mixed tag with Torrie against the Virginian couple. Despite the loss, Noble would continue to get involved in Torrie's affairs, revealing that he had inherited a substantial amount of money from his late Aunty, and then offering Torrie $10,000 to spend the night with him. Torrie was disgusted and Gunn would attack Noble, however he would continue to persist, increasing the offer to $25,000 the following week. He would also continue to be a pain in Gunn's side, costing him a match against Eddie Guerrero in the U.S tournament semifinals. With the tensions continuing to escalate, Noble challenged Gunn to a match at the PPV with the stipulation that if he won, he would get to spend the night with Torrie after all. Torrie accepted, confident that Noble did not stand a chance after losing to the Ass Man on repeated occasions going in to the PPV. Anyway, Noble comes out with a whole heap of sex toys here to enhance his sleazy image, with Nidia conspicuous by her absence, upset over the stipulation. They were a great act despite being lost in the shuffle for most of the year thus far. Meanwhile Billy Gunn really seems out of place here, coming out to his old Attitude era theme and all. He'd stick around for a while yet but won't really be doing much of note aside from putting young guys over. The match is kept short and fairly basic, with this whole feud pretty much just thrown together to fill out the card. Noble works over Gunn's leg to take the advantage, but Nidia ends up coming down, wearing the fur coat purchased using Noble's inheritance. She actually tries to cost Jamie the match, not wanting him to spend the night with Torrie, but as the trailer couple get into an argument, Torrie also gets involved. Gunn gets distracted by the shenanigans and that leads to Noble pushing him into her and rolling him up for the victory at 5:00. Torrie has to spend the night with Noble to her disgust, but the storyline will be over by our next show anyway. Basic stuff to fill time.Grade: *1/2

Backstage Funaki is standing by with the reunited APA. Bradshaw now has his short hair look that he retains today, obviously without the JBL character. They talk about their bar room invitational as the Easter Bunny hops by.

APA Invitational Bar Room Brawl:
Alright, so its been a while since we've seen either Faarooq or Bradshaw. After being split up in the initial draft and not really having a whole heap of success in singles competition, they reunited in the OVW developmental system. After a brief stint, they returned to the main roster about a month before this show on Smackdown, when they came to the aid of the Undertaker in a beat down by the Fully Blooded Italians. Since returning to TV, they've been back to their drinking and fighting ways and challenged anyone to show up to drink and fight at the PPV. Thats exactly what we have here with a bar set up by the stage with the simple rule being the winner is the last one standing. Basically its an excuse to get a bunch of guys a PPV payday and fill up some time. Aside from the APA themselves, the participants are the Basham Brothers (a new team on the scene comprised of Doug and Danny), Funaki, Matt Hardy, Shannon Moore, Orlando Jordan, Kanyon, Sean O'Haire, Nunzio, Johnny Stamboli, Chuck Palumbo, Spanky, Tough Enough winners Matt Cappotelli and John Hennigan, as well as random cameos from Brother Love, Brooklyn Brawler, The Conquistadors, Doink the Clown and the Easter Bunny. Brother Love kicks things off with a prayer, and its just a basic hardcore brawl here with everyone beating each other up. Funaki was great just drinking himself out of it at the bar through the whole thing. In the end, Bradshaw is the last one standing at 4:33, last getting rid of Love. Fun for what it was. Its all you expected it to be. I do think they could have just had the APA challenge the tag champions on this show and have Matt Hardy blow off his Cruiserweight title feud with Rey in a singles match on the PPV as well, which ties into our next match.Grade: N/A

Backstage, Jamie Noble gets excited for his date in the sheets with Torrie as he looks at a copy of her Playboy issue.

WWE Tag Team Championship:
World's Greatest Tag Team (c) vs Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman
Our next title match of the night is for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but we've had some changes in the title scene over the past few months. Of course back at Judgment Day, Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri had won a ladder match to become the new champions, defeating Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas, then known as Team Angle. Following that loss, Kurt Angle returned to Smackdown a few weeks later and ultimately severed ties with his proteges, thus turning face in the process. No longer affiliated with their mentor, Benjamin & Haas would proclaim themselves the World's Greatest Tag Team and looked to get back the titles they had held for much of 2003. They would do that a couple of weeks before this show when they beat Eddie & Tajiri for the titles on Smackdown, the same match after which Eddie turned on Tajiri. With the World's Greatest Tag Team back on top of the division, a newly formed tandem began to build momentum in the tag team ranks, that being Billy Kidman, and the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio. Mysterio had defeated Matt Hardy on Smackdown not long after Judgment Day in a title match that actually main evented the show. Anyway, Mysterio & Kidman picked up victories over the weeks going into the PPV to set up their shot at the gold here. This is another match that really showcased what the Smackdown roster was capable of doing. All four of these guys can be relied on to deliver in the ring, and we get an amazing tag team match. This is where the single brand shows can be a good thing, as there was no way this match with little build would get this amount of time when Raw was also in the house. Mysterio & Kidman were a fairly random thrown together team at this point, but they actually had history as partners in WCW, where they actually were the last ever Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions. There's your random trivia fact of the day. Shelton and Charlie have really excelled in the six months or so that they've been on the roster as well. This match is no exception to their impressive pedigree, as we get some awesome back and forth exchanges between the two teams with different combinations going at it. The crowd are into this big time, and Kidman delivers an awesome spot when he hits the Shooting Star Press to the outside! Despite the incredible burst of momentum, the champions end up taking over as the match goes on however. The faces take a kicking but come back and the match just stays in high gear all the way through. There's plenty of near falls and exchanges in the final moments, but in the end its Haas & Benjamin who leave with the gold as Shelton pins Mysterio following a double team lariat/powerbomb combination at 14:53. The World's Greatest Tag Team deliver another great outing on PPV here. One of the best standard tag matches on PPV that I can remember off the top of my head, and its one that really seems to fly under the radar. A major hidden gem as I completely forgot how good this was. It makes having the Matt Hardy/Rey Mysterio blow off done on Smackdown worth it actually. I remember heading in there was some speculation that Kidman would turn on Rey following this match to set up a Cruiserweight title feud, but that wouldn't happen. Rey would find new challengers while Kidman would float aimlessly for a while.Grade: ****1/2

We now go to a video package about the issues between Stephanie McMahon and Sable.

No Countout Match:
Stephanie McMahon vs Sable
This is an extension of the feud that has developed between father and daughter in the McMahon family for control ofThursday nights that really started with the Hogan/Vince feud. The evil chairman of the company had appointed Sable as Stephanie's assistant, wanting her to help him take control of the show from his daughter. Stephanie and Sable would not get along however, especially with Sable becoming Vince's latest mistress. The tensions would escalate in the McMahon family and on an episode of Smackdown Stephanie would tear into Vince for everything he had done throughout her life. Things would become physical when Sable attacked Stephanie a few weeks later and beat her down, which led to a number of catfights between the two women heading into the PPV match, a match Vince McMahon declared would have no countouts. As far as the match here goes, it was actually better than you might expect. I mean, its not good or anything, but it could have been way worse. Stephanie, despite not being a regular performer, had a basic idea of how to work a match so its not a total mess, even with Sable being beyond her already limited in ring prime. Overall its just a catfight between two women who despise each other, with Stephanie getting the better of her father's mistress as she proceeds to rip off her top, causing the ref to take off his shirt to cover Sable up. While this is going on however, the A-Train, who had become Vince's enforcer in recent weeks, comes down and lays out Stephanie with a clothesline. That allows Sable to cover the Smackdown GM for the pinfall victory at 6:25. Stephanie would spend the next month or so off TV recovering while Vince would take control of the blue brand leading to a major shift at the top of the card down the line.Grade: *3/4

We now get a recap of the Taker/Cena feud.

Undertaker vs John Cena
Our next match is a rather interesting one as the veteran leader in the Smackdown locker room takes on the young heel that is quickly rising up the ranks. This feud was all about respect, and was started on an episode of Smackdown on which John Cena took on a rookie in Orlando Jordan. Cena would defeat Jordan and attacked him after the match. That led to Taker making the save and offering Jordan a handshake, much as Taker had done to Cena about a year ago when he had first arrived on the scene. Taker would then interfere in Cena's U.S title tournament match against Billy Gunn the following week, costing the Doctor of Thuganomics a chance to advance. From there the two would brawl with one another in the weeks that followed, with Cena out for revenge on a man who he perceived to disrespect him. On the Smackdown before the show, Cena delivered an awesome rap from a cemetery to add some final heat on the encounter at the PPV. That brings us to where we are now. It was clear that Cena was perceived as a star on the rise at this point in time, as he's been involved in some pretty big matches in 2003 which will only continue, despite him not doing all that much prior to Mania. Meanwhile Taker continues to meander through the upper midcard getting into interesting feuds like this one as he tries to further elevate the young stud that would eventually become the face of the company. I don't think they were grooming him for that specifically at this point, but there was definitely a future seen in him. Despite being a heel, Cena actually gets a fair bit of crowd support, although Taker is of course cheered too. The match kicks off with Big Evil in control as he makes the youngster pay his dues in the ring. In fact, he actually delivers a chokeslam that seems to have Cena down for the three, only for Taker to lift his shoulder back up before the final count. That was a strange booking decision as it made Cena look somewhat weak, but its not like he's in there with just anyone - its the Undertaker. That marks a shift in the match anyway, as moments later Cena becomes more aggressive and takes it to the Undertaker with some stiff shots being traded by both guys. Cena connects with the FU, but Taker manages to kick out after a close near fall following a chain shot that almost ended it. It was not to be for the rising rapper however, as Taker would follow by mounting his comeback and in the end he puts Cena away with a Last Ride at 16:01. A really solid match in which Cena looked to fit more than his WWE title match against Brock a few months prior at Backlash. The first part of the match was booked strangely with Taker pretty much destroying Cena and picking up an early win, but from there things really picked up and Cena carried his end of the bargain. Off the top of my head I think this is the only singles PPV match that Cena and Taker ever had as well. Its strange considering they'd both be fixtures of the company for the remainder of the decade and beyond. This was really good and probably Cena's best showing yet. I wish they had revisited this feud somewhere down the track once Cena got some more experience and Taker really reinvigorated himself in the ring.Grade: ***1/2

We keep things moving next as we go to a video package for the Vince/Gowen rivalry.

Zach Gowen vs Mr McMahon
With Hogan abruptly departing the company again cutting the Mr America storyline short, Mr McMahon focused on the one legged fan by the name of Zach Gowen as his latest target of torment on Thursday nights. As Gowen expressed his dream to one day become a WWE superstar, Mr McMahon said that he would give him a chance to earn a contract if he could beat him in an arm wrestling contest. That contest would take place a few weeks before this show, however Vince would kick Gowen's only leg out from underneath him during the challenge, causing him to lose. The next week McMahon continued to play with Gowen, claiming that he would give him a contract if he joined the Kiss my Ass club. Gowen would use the opportunity to humiliate McMahon instead though, hitting the chairman of the company with a low blow. An irate Vince attacked Gowen later in the evening and put him in a handicap match teaming with Stephanie McMahon against the Big Show, with Gowan once again being promised a contract if he could somehow be victorious. Despite the odds being against him, Gowen and Stephanie would be victorious in an upset thanks to some assistance from both Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle, much to Mr McMahon's irritation. The following week, Gowen signed his Smackdown contract, but not one to take a plan backfiring, Vince announced that he would face him at the PPV in his first match under contract. He would follow up by assaulting Gowen during a six man main event on the Smackdown before this show, as the one legged sensation was out for retribution at Vengeance. So that brings us to this match, and phase 2 of Mr McMahon's attempt to exercise control over Smackdown tonight. He starts out extremely cocky and taunts Gowen as he uses his strength to beat the young kid down. Gowen gets a few spots in where he has a burst of momentum, including an Asai moonsault, but for the most part its Vince savouring the chance to beat the rookie down. He brings a chair into play, but Zach dropkicks it back into the boss's face. It actually slices Vince's head open and we get what was a far crazier amount of blood than this match called for. Zach uses the opening to fight back with some chair shots of his own, and he builds up some momentum to the point where it looks like he might actually come out on top. He ends up missing another moonsault however, which ends up being his undoing, as McMahon capitalises and covers the rookie to score the victory at 14:02. Its not often that McMahon comes out on top in a PPV match, but I don't think Gowen was being planned for use as anything more than a novelty act going forward so its not a big deal. This was more about continuing the theme of Vince abusing his power and trying to take control of the show back from the daughter that he appointed as General Manager a year prior. The announcers did put over Gowen's heart throughout the fight and he gets an ovation from the crowd after the bout. As always with Vince matches, you know what you are getting before it starts. This wasn't meant to be an athletic contest. Its not memorable like some of his more high profile encounters with big name superstars, but I didn't have a problem with this. Fairly solid for what it was.Grade: **3/4

We now go backstage to Josh Mathews who gets a word with Eddie Guerrero, who is leaving the arena. Eddie says his win against Benoit wasn't controversial at all as he's not responsible for the problems Benoit has with his friends. From there we go to the video package hyping the main event.

WWE Championship:
Brock Lesnar (c) vs Kurt Angle vs Big Show
Our main event of the evening sees the returning Kurt Angle get involved in the ongoing championship rivalry between Brock Lesnar and the Big Show as he looks to reclaim the title he lost back at WrestleMania. Angle made his return to Smackdown a month or so before the PPV and cemented the face turn that he started with the show of respect to Brock at Mania, by firing ending his association with Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. Angle announced his desire to be champion again, but this drew the ire of the Big Show who attacked the American hero, only for Brock to make the save and spoke about his respect and friendship for Kurt. This led to a title match between Brock and Show the following week on Smackdown, which was the infamous bout that went to a no contest with the ring collapsed following a superplex from the top rope. The following week the two faced off in a rematch, but Haas and Benjamin interfered and beat Lesnar down, bringing out Kurt Angle and Mr America to make the save. All six men battled in a tag team match a week later in which the heels were victorious, with Show pinning America in what ended up being his final appearance before leaving. Brock and Kurt would get some payback on Show the next week though when they assisted Zach Gowen earn his contract in the aforementioned handicap match. In the weeks that followed, all three combatants became involved in each other's affairs, with Show's dominance leading to altercations between Brock and Kurt despite their newfound friendship. That brings us to our final match of the evening, and for the second year in a row we have a really great triple threat match to cap off the July PPV. Brock and Kurt have really developed amazing chemistry and their rivalry is far from over, with them now both clearly in the face role against the heel Big Show who has been on perhaps the best run of his career so far since coming to the blue brand. Being the returning hero, Angle gets most of the cheers here, although there's still some fan support for Brock. That said, it did seem to be wavering and he'd mix things up over the month ahead to keep things fresh. It was definitely strange to see Brock involved in a friendship storyline though since he's been portrayed as a relentless monster for most of his entire career. The early part of the match continue to establish Show's dominance as Brock and Kurt having to team up against him and bringing weapons into play to make up for the size advantage of the giant. Show was obviously the third man in the match here, but he definitely played his part to the best of his ability and didn't slouch in there like we might have expected a year or two prior. Ultimately the two faces take Show out of it for a while, with Kurt delivering an Angle Slam through the announce table in an awesome spot. The crowd go wild for it and that energy only intensifies from there as Angle and Lesnar finally square off one on one for the first time since Mania. There's a big fight feel in the air as the two go at it back and forth with both men hitting some big moves and scoring some near falls. Meanwhile Show recovers and returns to the match as well asserting his dominance with a double chokeslam. From there we go into finisher mode and its ultimately Kurt who comes out on top. After delivering an Angle Slam to Show, he follows up with another to Brock. From there Kurt pins the champion to regain the WWE Championship in a classic encounter at 17:29. A really good showing from the Smackdown main eventers, and with Kurt regaining the gold as a hero it adds a new dynamic to the ongoing Brock/Kurt feud that has become synonymous with the blue brand in 2003. Show's run at the top comes to an end here as he settles back into the upper midcard, but he's definitely been a solid heel presence in the months since Mania when somebody needed to step up into that role. A great match and a feel good win for Angle as he came back from a serious injury to take the stage once more.Grade: ****

FINAL THOUGHTS:
While Raw's Bad Blood was not the beyond terrible show that I seemed to think it was going in, there is no question that Smackdown's first brand exclusive PPV blew it out of the water. The show had three matches that reached the **** range in all the championship matches, so its a great PPV, there's no other way of looking at it. Its great to see Kurt Angle back after his post-Mania sabbatical and he's now back on top of the blue brand after a great performance in the main event. We also had an excellent wrestling showcase between two of the best workers in the company for the newly established U.S championship, as well as an excellent tag title bout that really came out of the left field. We also witnessed John Cena's star continue to rise as he looked perfectly comfortable in the ring with the Undertaker, even if the initial booking of the match seemed a little counterproductive. One thing that was clear on this show was more attention to the authority figure struggle become prevalent, which had previously been reserved more on Raw. That said, both McMahon matches were fine for what they were, with the Vince/Gowan contest actually much more fun than I expected it to be going in. The rest was inoffensive filler. Smackdown maintains its reputation as the better show with a great first attempt at the solo PPV concept.

Three Stars of the Night:
1. World's Greatest Tag Team - excellent teamwork in another classic PPV encounter. They were really setting the Smackdown tag division on fire. Their opponents definitely stepped up as well and put on a classic but the awards for this show are hard enough to give out.
2. Eddie Guerrero/Chris Benoit (tie) - a really great opener that succeeded in establishing the prestige of the new championship in the mix.
3. Kurt Angle - the returning hero deserved a mention in the awards for his triumphant return to PPV.

FINAL GRADE: 9 out of 10

ALL TIME PERFORMANCE TALLY:
What I do here is add the three stars of the night with each review so as to keep track of who we can say overall is the greatest PPV performer to any given time. First place scores 3 points, second 2 and third 1.